Theatrum Italiae

In the early modern period, Italy was one of the most important cultural centers of Europe. It was a place where one could admire ancient monuments, masterpieces of Renaissance and Baroque art, and observe the transformations of contemporary architecture. Cities like Rome, Florence, and Venice were true treasuries of visual forms and attracted travelers from all over Europe. While artists sought inspiration, studying the works of their predecessors and contemporaries, for young aristocrats, a visit to Italy often marked the culmination of their education. The experience of these so-called Grand Tours significantly shaped the cultural horizons of European elites and contributed to the dissemination of artistic styles and aesthetic ideas across the continent.

Exhibition Information

EXHIBITION: Theatrum Italiae. Views of Italian Cities in Prints from the Collections of the Olomouc Archbishopric

DATE: 11 06 – 28 09 2026

LOCATION: Archdiocesan Museum Kroměříž – Kroměříž Archbishop's Palace

CURATOR: Helena Zápalková

RESTORATION WORK: Tomáš Guľaš, Veronika Langer Klimszová

INSTALLATION: Tomáš Guľaš, Filip Šindelář

GRAPHIC DESIGN: Kateřina Manková

TRANSLATION: Zuzana Henešová

PROMOTION: Tomáš Kasal, Martin Šinkovský

Audio guide to the exhibition Theatrum Italiae

Prints played an important role in shaping the perception of Italy. Vedute, views of city streets, squares, and individual buildings, were published not only as separate sheets but also accompanied travelogues, itineraries, and atlases, allowing readers to symbolically (virtually) travel across Europe. For actual travelers, prints became a popular souvenir, a reminder of visited places, preserving "visual memory" and simultaneously helping to spread the image of Italy as a center of European culture.

This chamber exhibition, composed exclusively of archiepiscopal collections preserved at Kroměříž Castle, presents a selection of topographical albums and graphic vedute that capture Italian cities during their cultural and political heyday. Among the exhibits are examples of the generously conceived "atlas" of Italian cities by Amsterdam publisher Joan Blaeu, views of Baroque Rome by Giovanni Battista Falda, and a representative collection of large-format vedute of Florence created according to drawings by Giuseppe Zocchi.

The exhibition is also the first part of a longer-term cycle that, together with an accompanying catalog, follows up on the exhibition project Architecture in Prints of the 16th – 18th Century from the Collections of the Olomouc Archbishopric, held at the end of 2025 at the Archdiocesan Museum Olomouc.

Presentation of Italian print works